Stocks dropped early in the week over concerns on Chinese real estate developer China Evergrande’s potential failure, but rallied later in the week as investors believe the fallout would be contained and a positive Fed meeting. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Dow gained 0.6% for the week. Abroad, the FTSE All World Ex US fell 0.5% for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed over the week to end at 1.46% from 1.37% as the Fed announced it was moving to reduce support for the economy. It’s at its highest level since July.
The Fed signaled after its September meeting it was likely to begin cutting back on its bond purchase program in November. They expect a gradual reduction in bond purchases that ends by mid 2022. In addition, they could raise the Fed Funds Rate as soon as next year with rate increases faster and more pronounced than they were projecting earlier this year.
Business activity showed signs of slowing in the US and Eurozone in September based on surveys.
China’s central bank announced that all cryptocurrency transactions are illegal dealing a blow to the virtual currencies.